Greta Marks hadn’t protested when Ryder had found her and asked her to come into the station. But Ryder had done it the right way: he’d asked for her help. He wanted to know anything she could tell him about the demon and the number six and what was happening with the gates of hell.

“Did you meet the demon?” Dan asked her, after they had been introduced and were all seated in Ryder’s office, including Katie.

“Well, of course I saw him. He came to me,” Greta told them earnestly.

Ryder produced one of the sketches drawn from Katie’s memory of Neil Browne and showed it to Greta.

“Is that him?” Ryder asked.

“Oh, um. Hm... Maybe. The face is...different. But the eyes... See, that’s where you know,” Greta explained. “The world is full of charlatans.” She laughed. “Take Washington, DC. Look at what goes on up there, eh? Everyone lying, and I’m not picking on any party. They act the good act! We see people here all the time who think they’re something special, or unique or...” She paused, shrugging. “But when he came to me, I knew. I just knew. I looked into his eyes, and I knew he was the real thing.”

“Did he ask for a reading? Cards, a palm reading?” Katie asked quietly.

“He asked me to read my crystal. To tell him what I could see in my crystal ball. But he was the one who saw events first...and he showed them to me. First, it appeared that storm clouds filled the space, and lightning jagged, and then...the clouds seemed to grow red. He said death and destruction were coming, and we all needed to adhere to the number six, bow down to the number six. A presence had returned from the bowels of hell. He had come, the immortal one. And I just stared into that ball because I could see it all as he told it! Storms, darkness, shadows, thunder, lightning, blood...and death. I was... I was so scared! But he told me I was safe, protected by six, but I must warn others. Tell them the immortal being was back, that hell was out there, a demon wielding a bloody axe.”

“But this was after the first murders, and before the woman was found at the old family cemetery?” Dan asked, glancing at Katie.

Greta nodded somberly. “I... Yes, I believe so. I... I don’t know if he was the immortal one, or if he was a prophet for the immortal one. But he promised I would be safe but that I should spread the word, warn others that they had best repent, that they...they needed to adhere to the number six.”

“Greta, look at the picture again, will you please?” Ryder asked her. “How did he appear different?”